1. REPRESENTATION OF EMOTIONS, FEELINGS AND
VALUES:
A DIARY FROM THE HEART
A Graduate Research Project
By:
CLAUDIA ADRIANA RENDÓN-GARDUÑO
Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of:
MASTER OF SCIENCE
May 2001
Major Subject: Art
2. ABSTRACT
The artist Claudia Rendón searches to explain the emotions,
feelings and values that are revealed in a series of art objects. Six
acrylics begin the exploration by depicting life, the learning process,
intensely fortified, respect, conflict and imbalance, and finally life
triumphing against complete destruction. The cycle of life is completed in
the artwork.
Following these symbols, delicate movements of the face and/or
body express real life emotions, feelings and values. Different color
selection as well as technique used by many artists has diverse impact
on the creator. The viewer feels a variety or emotions, feelings and
values as a reaction when the art object is encountered. Claudia Rendón
is attempting to penetrate into the viewer mind and heart and inject the
seed of balanced emotions, feelings and values. The series of portraits
from the heart is validated by research into the lives of great artists as
well as the artist’s personal experiences.
(Note: This graduate research project is translated in Spanish)
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
From remote times, man has been represented in diverse
situations of daily life. The principle and aim of these manifestations is to
communicate with the beings of the same species and with divinities as
well. Within the forms of communication two great areas, the verbal and
the nonverbal exist. In the verbal are found the diverse languages
pronounced through the spoken word. The nonverbal area
communication occurs through many more elements than included in
speech. Often the nonverbal language supports verbal language by
means of signs, face gestures, corporal positions, colors and forms.
In nonverbal language expression is found in the fine arts.
Within these, painting, sculpture, engraving, etc., are essential for
communication. Through these arts the human being is represented
physically along with representations of thoughts, feelings, emotions and
the entire legacy of, culture. Through generations human kind has found
that values, as much individual as social, usually become attached to the
original culture.
3. Through personal experiences Claudia Rendón learned to
perceive emotions, feelings and values that appear, as if magically, in the
artistic work of most cultures. By observing and perceiving with
sensibility other artists work, Claudia Rendón identifies with certain
values and a connection is found with personal experiences. This
connection a strongly influences the artwork of Claudia Rendón.
Certain symbols stand out as important in order to represent
concepts such as the “Cycle of Life”, in Claudia’s artwork. Life is
considered to be a seed that is affected by water, sun and earth. Hands
approach the seed to represent knowledge from past generations that
needs to be learned. Upon becoming a tree, life achieves a strong and
fortified form, because all the elements are available, including water,
sun, earth and wind. Also deep and strong roots are represented.
Communication with all that is outside of the tree of life occurs when one
feels as strong as the trees roots, as in the Aztec symbols that inspire the
artist. When abuse of power occurs the delicate balance between life
and the individual is lost, therefore the destruction begins, represented
by a cloudy sky. The cycle concludes when the apparently destroyed
tree grows strong roots; emotions, feelings and values are alive and
capable of generating new seed, in other words, new life.
The artist finds through instinct that the portrait allows seeing the
representation of emotions, feelings and values that the personages
have experienced, this was observed in the people that are around the
artist’s heart.
Claudia Rendón has observed, that the way to represent
emotions, values and feelings in art, makes the difference in the way
people can perceive the actual message the artist wants to
communicate. The artist thinks that in real life, a delicate movement of
the face or of the body can express any emotion, value or feeling and
become a symbol. When these symbols are successful, no verbal
explanation is needed. Observation and interpretation that uses a clear,
easy, and elegant way, of these expressions is what Claudia Rendón
admires.
From age three the artist’s father taught visual representation.
Many hours were spent in museum and galleries. The artist was
sensible and learned how to interpret emotions, feelings and values from
the art objects of other artists, regardless of the time or style of those
artists.
In those museum’s experiences, courses and from books,
Claudia learned about colors, shapes, composition, volume, and design.
All this together, in addition of experiences in daily life with sculptor
4. father, art historian mother and folkloric ballerina sister, made a fantastic
artistic environment for Claudia.
The art objects that most influenced Rendón’s work where those
that had a deep and clear representation of the ecology, the ethnical
roots and the hard work that antiques of any civilization represent or
express. Survival and friendship between two different peoples
(countries, religions, or cities, etc.), family union and values, justice,
serenity of the soul, and on the other hand, injustice and abuse of power,
hate, destruction of nature balance, were powerful visual as well as
conceptual influences.
Along with the above concepts, the artist searches to match
initial idea and final result reached by the composition, design of the
shapes, forms or volumes and utilization of colors and materials. For
Claudia Rendón, the final and professional presentation of the completed
work is also very important. Many artists have influenced Claudia’s work,
particularly those that deal with social, nature or human matters. And
also have deep expression penetrating the mind and the soul of the
viewer.
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In this chapter, the artist Claudia Rendón will review the artists
that have been most influential and appreciated through the course of
study and the journey of life. These are broken down into four distinct
time periods; artists that are labeled “historical” by art historians, artists
that are generally grouped with the Modern and Contemporary styles,
artists from Mexico, and artists that Claudia has been directly or indirectly
associated with throughout life.
HISTORICAL ARTISTS
Art that has been influential to Claudia Rendón are the
Prehispanic art of Mexico, and the Italian Renaissance.
Artistic activity was not only highly respected and important in
Prehispanic life, but it was also essential to the functioning of society. In
this society there was no written language and the visual arts had a
major role in communicating and preserving cultural traditions. Many
aspects of religious ritual, and of social and ethnic distinctions, were
meaningless unless expressed visually in works of art. Because the
5. major function of art was to communicate and preserve information, the
Prehispanic cultures placed much emphasis on symbolic
representation. “Prehispanic art is, in a general way and even
constantly, of a religious origin, this does not mean that this is always so,
nor that is should always be seen by us as an art that expresses a
determinate belief, myth or figure.” (Xirau, Ramón, p.3)
All objects in Prehispanic art, even those associated with high
religious and military status, such as sacrificial knives, warriors’
costumes, and divine images, were made in fulfillment of specific uses.
The material of which an object was made
may be as important as the function, for both practical and symbolic
reasons. Among different materials there are major differences in style
and iconography. This is partly the result of guild and workshop
specialization, for different guilds evidently carved the major stone
monuments in Tenochtitlan and the smaller stone sculptures throughout
the rest of the Valley of Mexico.
In Prehispanic art, the units of meaning are actual glyphs, individual
symbols, composite emblems, deities, and figures in action. These
units can be compared with dates, personal names and place
names (glyphs), nouns and adjectives (symbols), complex concepts
(emblems and deities), and verbs (figures in action). (Pasztory,
Esther. p. 72)
As the Nahuatl and many other native languages, are richer in
nouns than in verb inflections, Prehispanic art is richer in emblems than
in actions. The Prehispanic civilizations fundamental religious belief
centered on the eternal return of all things. A world that is born, dies and
is reborn, a double sign of the morning and twilight stars, a constant
change and death that give life, beginning with the last fire and the last
embers.
All ancient art of Mexico possesses, even though originated from
different cultures and forms of expression, characteristics that are
common as they are fundamentals:
It is a religious-magical art that expresses “the essential dualism of the
precortesian world” and the concept of a cyclical world made of life-
death-life, creation-destruction-creation.
It is –as is Egyptian art or European art of the XIII century- a collective art
that surpasses the forces of the individual: collective constructions,
collective ritual sacrifices, collective worship that demands collective work.
Sacred and collective universe;
6. It is an art presided by the spirit –the god, the gods-by a spirituality that
tends to express the terrible, the sublime. (Galarza, Joaquin. p.24)
Paul Westhiem writes: “The art of old Mexico is the attempt to
give plastic expression to the concept of the divine, up to where human
condition permits. (Ancient Mexican Art, 2nd
ed. Era, 1972)
In Prehispanic arts, codices, drums, ball games, axes,
anthropomorphic or not, childbirth, procreations, skulls, men and women
squatting, painted figures from Nayarit, masks that are faces and masks
that hide faces, urns like jaguars, serpents, lights, suns (also temples,
paintings, statues and statuettes) are, very frequently, signs and symbols
of beliefs, myths, expressions of another world that are also in this world.
These have tremendous influences upon the artwork of Claudia Rendón.
In Prehispanic art, a synthetic expression of large concepts is found. It is
difficult to find the exact symbol to represent a signal or movement that
characterizes an item, animal or human being, nevertheless Prehispanic
cultures where experts in utilizing observation of nature and finding a
precise synthesis to represent those individual characteristics. Another
common feeling that Claudia Rendón found represented in Prehispanic
art was the pride of belonging to a specific place or group. Pride is
represented with strong and strait angles between one shape and
another. In addition, the colors used by the Prehispanic cultures meant a
joy for life, as is also the case in the artwork of Claudia Rendón.
Michelangelo affects the artist by representing emotions,
feelings and values, in all work. The masterpieces endure through the
passage of time. People identify with what is seen and feeling touches
feeling. The master puts gesture in the work and from the gesture
emotions arise.
Most of Michelangelo’s art was made for religious purposes and
have passion. Control allowed style to bypass the thematic. The
mastery of the piece places the viewer in a position where admiration of
the subject allows feeling to be engraved when looking at the artwork.
The artist of this research paper admires the “David” because
there is a concentrated and accurate portrayal of emotion found in the
glance or look of the face. The right hand is in a position to give accurate
direction to the stone missile. There is balance with the outside axis
slightly tilted, in challenging attitude worthy of representing the important
biblical personage.
In children, carved and painted by Michelangelo, suitable
proportions to reality are followed to insure complete identity, yet have
stylistic intensity. For the purpose of causing an immediate feeling of
7. tenderness and innocence the children project the need for adult
affection. These children characteristics are both the subject and the
composition to Michelangelo. Vasari, the great art historian of the
Renaissance, states:
“It would be impossible for any craftsman or sculptor no matter
how brilliant ever to surpass the grace or design of this work, or try
to cut and polish the marble with the skill that Michelangelo
displayed.”
(www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-early.html)
There is about as much anguish and frustration the art of Michelangelo
as there is in the real life of any human being. The sculptures quickly
make contact with the emotions and feelings of the viewer. Often, in the
unfinished state, there is greater visual impact than in the finished one.
Claudia Rendón believes that a state in between the finished and
unfinished is the most vigorous in all of Michelangelo’s work. Bringing life
from the stone, a theory espoused by many artists, is spoken of by
Vasari:
“It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever
have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to
create in the flesh.” (www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-early.html)
“La Pieta” is simply the purest representation of tenderness and
love that exists between mother and son. The strength that this work
achieves reaches the depth that the subject implies. A delicate woman
holds the weight of a dead man, without expressing any kind of effort.
Michelangelo was an expert in observing and representing by
using diverse techniques and endless details of the human emotions,
feelings and values. The artist hopes to transmit these same directions
in personal work.
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
Modern and contemporary artists that influence Claudia Rendón
are August Rodin, Edvard Munch, Piet Mondrian, Constantin Brancusi,
Rene Magritte, M.C. Escher and Alexander Calder.
In August Rodin’s artwork Rendón found nature to be strong
and real. There was study and observation in the strokes taken with the
clay knife. Every art, every hand and even every finger was an individual
item.
8. Rodin’s method of working, writes Paul Gsell, was singular. He had in his
studio a number of nude models, men and women, in movement or
reposing. Rodin paid them to supply him constantly with the picture of
nudity in various attitudes and with all the liberty of ordinary life. He was
constantly looking at them, and this was always familiar with the spectacle
of muscles in movement. Thus the nude which to-day people rarely see,
and which even sculptors only see during the short periods of the pose,
was for Rodin an ordinary spectacle. Thus he acquired that knowledge of
the human body unclothed which was common to the Greeks through
constant exercise in sports and games, and learned to read the
expression of feeling in all parts of the body. The face is usually regarded
as the only mirror of the soul, and mobility of features in supposed to be
the only exteriorization of spiritual life. But in reality there is not a muscle
of the body which does not reveal thoughts an feeling. (Ludwing
Goldsheider. p.16)
By looking at the details, Rodin’s audience is able to see the
feelings and passions of the faces and hands found in the work. Rodin
cuts the hollows of the face deeply to assure strong shadows, and
textured surfaces catch the subtle variations of light and heighten the
sense of life and movement.
Rodin was the first sculptor to make sculptures of body sections
as a finished piece. This influenced many movements in modern
sculpture and affects Rendón positively.
In the strong emotions perceived from people, Rodin gains the look
of determination. Aggressive textures and expressions are found in
the work. As with Claudia Rendón, the important thing is to
transmit a specific idea, emotion or feeling through the artwork.
The technique allowed Rodin to eliminate all that might counteract
or draw attention from the important subject. “As to polishing nails
or ringlets of hair, that has no interest for me, It detracts attention
from the leading lines and the soul which I wish to interpret.”
(Ludwing Goldsheider. p.17)
“The Thinker”, is one of Claudia Rendón’s favorites. The piece
shows that it is possible to represent an inner feeling in art. In other
words, the “Thinker” is not trying to communicate or express something
to the self, not to the world outside.
“The Thinker” also was part of the original conception of ‘The Gate of
Hell’, of which it might be said that it constitutes the soul. Moreover,
Rodin at first wanted his statue to be called ‘The Poet’. In the artist view,
the poet was that Dante whose work he loved so passionately and
whence he had drawn so many wonderful designs. But this Dante met
9. the same fate as the ‘Balzac’ at a later date. Rodin went beyond his first
conception and widened the theme he had thus first chosen until it
became a universal symbol. (Summerville, Ludwig Goldsheider. p.117)
“Nijinsky”, a sculpture by Rodin of a ballerina is expressive
because of dynamic position. “The Eternal Idol”, on the other hand, is
heavenly because of the calm in the disposition of the face. It is a
perfect example of how to render emotion. There is also a symbolic
attitude that can mean many things.
A young woman is half seated half kneeling, with her head bending
forward and a dreamy look in her face, while a man, kneeling before her,
restraining his desire, his arms are behind his back, softly bends his head
and plants a kiss under the left breast, over the heart. He has a restrained
fervor that is at once mystical and amorous. She has a reserved sphinx-
like expression. Is she, too awakening to the current of love, or is she
wondering at man’s passion, which is unfathomable, for the beauty, which
he as yet hardly knows? The originality of the pose is unique in sculpture,
rendering it one of the loveliest commentaries on the relations between
man and woman that exist in art. (Summerville, Ludwig Goldsheider.
p.121)
Edvard Münch’s artwork draws Claudia Rendón’s attention.
When Münch made an artwork, it was done for touch more than sight.
The deep thing of the spirit is felt by more than one sense.
The Expressionist’s art, like that of Münch, was one of spiritual pain. Their
works were acts of self-liberation, outlets for souls and minds stirred by
events and conditions that eventually led to the near global conflagration
known as World War I. But whereas the majority of the Expressionists
were politically oriented, manifested anti-establishment attitudes, yearned
for critical examination of all conventions and strove for an exposure of
social evils, Munch was the great introvert who joined no group, had no
preference for any party program, political or aesthetic. The Swiss
psychiatrist Oskar Pfister could have had him in mind when, about 1922,
he characterized the Expressionist as one who “creates out or the depth of
things, because he knows himself to be in those depths. (Werner, Alfred.
p. VI)
In “The Scream”, the viewer can appreciate inarticulate sound.
The expressive force is in the techniques of the great master. The
sinuous lines resonate in Claudia Rendón’s mind. This artist thinks that
art is just like the effects of “The Scream”. Good art does not need
greater explanation to be felt and understood. When the viewer identifies
10. with the artwork through similar emotions, feelings or values there is a
great result, a coming together of earth and space. Münch explains:
All in all, art results from man’s desire to communicate with his fellows. All
methods are equally effective. Both in literature and in painting the
technique varies according to the aims of the artist. Nature is a means to
an end, not an end in itself. If it is possible to produce the desired effect
by changing nature, then it should be done. A landscape will alter
according to the mood of the person who sees it, and in order to represent
that particular scene the artist will produce a picture that expresses his
own personal feelings. It is these feelings, which are crucial: nature is
merely the means of conveying them. Whether the picture resembles
nature or not is irrelevant, as a picture cannot be explained’ the reason for
its being painted in the first place was that the artist could find no other
means of expressing what he saw. The finished work can only give a hint
of what was in the artist’s mind.
(Stang, Ragna. p. 15)
The work of Münch is a description of a psychological situation
that supposes a new conception of the value founded in the function of
the symbol. There is a meaning attached to something that does not
have a clear terminus. Claudia Rendón also uses symbols in this
manner.
At any rate, what he created between about 1884 and 1909 is sufficient to
secure him a chapter in the history of modern art, as a major transitional
figure from late nineteenth-century Naturalism and Impressionism to the
core of twentieth-century Expressionism and Symbolism. (Werner, Alfred.
p. viii)
The type of synthesis that Claudia appreciates in Münch is found
in panels like “Melancholy”, “Sunset” or “Inger in the Beach”. These
works have bent lines and chromatic surfaces that dominate. The robust
texture found here moves away from the Realism that had been reigning
in art throughout the previous century.
Though this may not be evident at a quick glance, Münch’s best work
amalgamates the finest qualities of “abstract” art with the “realistic”
message that makes a work or art spontaneously accessible to the
beholder. He did not sacrifice form to idea, but condensed, synthesized
and simplified shapes, and suppressed details of faces and landscapes.
In his paintings he chose certain colors, such as bloody and mystical
blues, mainly for their emotional, symbolic qualities’ like many an artist of
the 1950’s, he also allowed paint to drip, to splash, unconcerned whether
11. these accidental effects might mar the “beauty” of the surface in the
traditional sense of the word. (Werner, Alfred. p. viii)
Piet Mondrian is a constant influence in Claudia Rendón’s
artwork. In Mondrian’s artwork the raw material was white surfaces,
straight lines and rectangles colored in vibrant tones of red, yellow, blue,
white, black and gray. With such tools Mondrian tried synthetically to do
a balanced art that represented harmonious universe, humanity and
nature. Becoming thus the main exponent of a new abstract painting
class called Neo-Plasticism, Mondrian was influencing not only to the
contemporary plastic artists, but to the architecture and the industrial
design.
Mondrian's concept of 'pure plasticity' consisted partly in the simplification
of the means of expression to the bare essentials. He not only banished
representation and three-dimensional picture-space but also the curved
line, sensuous qualities of texture and surface, and the sensuous appeal of
colour. This restrictedness he regarded as a sort of mystical pursuit of the
Absolute, which he justified in terms of his theosophical beliefs. His
extensive influence was not limited to artists whose style had direct
affinities with his own. He also had a profound influence on much industrial,
decorative, and advertisement art from the 1930s onwards. His influence
was spread by his writings as well as his paintings.
(http://www.xrefer.com/entry/144732)
For Claudia Rendón, Mondrian’s work presents spiritual values.
Mondrian preferred to firmly maintain an ideology that was different from
that which was accepted at the time. This philosophy is related to the art
of Rendón, in that Mondrian’s incessant search for equilibrium,
introducing a new concept in the restlessness that to Rendón is a
powerful dynamic.
The positive and the negative are the causes of all action ... The positive
and the negative break up oneness; they are the cause of all
unhappiness. The union of the positive and the negative is happiness.'
The palpable oneness of the solitary flower or tower, being subject to time
and change, had to give way to the subliminal oneness of a vivid
equilibrium...important task of all art is to destroy the static balance and to
establish a dynamic one ".
(http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/mondrian.html)
Constantine Brancusi is often is considered a pioneer of
abstraction going further than others trying to condense an idea or
action, even something ethereal, like emotions, feelings or values. To
reach his objective, Brancusi gives to his artwork a visual elegance with
12. an excellent and clean synthesis of the form and also has a sensitive use
of materials. Brancusi reflects this way:
When you see a fish you don’t think of its scales, do you? You think of its
speed, its floating, flashing body seen through water. Well, I have tried to
express just that. If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its
movement; give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its
spirit. (Jianou, Ionel. p.13, 14)
Brancusi tries to get the spirit behind appearances. Believing in
equilibrium the ordering of value in good things, Brancusi presents bad
things in equal quantity. It was important to emphasize the respect that
must exist between individuals. It was also important to have the right
attitude in solving situations in art and in life. In order to have strong
spirit, strong roots must exist.
He would place groups of sculptures in close spatial relationship, thus
indicating the importance of the empty space between them…. In the
monument for the Romanian heroes at Targu Jiv took the ethnological
point of view, where the monuments are the cosmical representation of
the human life, started at birth symbolized by the Silence Table, and
closed with the death, symbolized by the Endless Column. The distance
between them which represents the time given to a human life, is
interrupted by the Kiss Gate, the symbol of marriage and of the start of a
new vital cycle. (http://cpcug.org/user/stefan/brancus.html)
In the art of René Magritte, Claudia Rendón discovered that the
people do not realize the complicated way everyone lives life. To
Rendón an uncertainty feeling and fear appears when one confronts a
stranger. Inflexibility is seen in the people when no routine situations
appear. There is little interest in learning new ways to solve those
situations as well. Magritte explains:
To equate my painting with symbolism, conscious or unconscious, is to
ignore its thru nature.... People are quite willing to use objects without
looking for any symbolic intention in then, but when they look at paintings,
they cannot find any use for them. So they hunt around for a meaning to
get themselves out of the quandary, and because they do not understand
what they are supposed to think when they confront the painting...They
want something to lean on, so they can be comfortable. They want
something secure to hang on to, so they can save themselves from the
void. (Gablik, Suzi. p. 1970)
Magritte gives the opportunity to revalue ordinary or very usual
objects when these elements are put in an unusual environment. The
13. important objects are given a new meaning than allowed in normal,
everyday situations. Absence becomes evident, like a human value, or
an emotion of life, or a pleasant feeling. These can be equated with a
good friend, a kiss when waking up or a shining blue sky. Magritte says:
The images must be seen such as they are. Moreover, my painting implies
no supremacy of the invisible over the visible. (The letter hidden in the
envelope is not visible; neither is the sun when it is hidden by a curtain of
trees.) The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is
unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown. (Gablik, Suzi.
p.12)
The optical illusions of M.C. Escher are admired by Rendón.
Escher patterns a complex mathematical structure called tessellations
that are seen by Claudia Rendón as an excellent representation of the
respect that must exist about the space between individuals in society.
Everything sees changes as the space changes. To discover the
tensions between spaces is a big part of both Escher’s and Rendón’s art.
All Escher work is based on mathematical study and was
recognized by eminent scientists and crystallographers, acquiring a
particular mastery in representing three dimensions in two dimensions.
Where additions were introduced unusual vanishing points force the
objects to obey. Diverse points of view in the same image are found.
The spectator is always going to find different datum points from
up/down, and right/left, that cause apparent confusion, but at the same
time are always ordered. Claudia Rendón interprets this effect in M.C.
Escher’s artwork as the explanation for life without chance. There is a
rhythm and cycle, and when this order is broken by any imbalance, then
the chaos and the lack of understanding are imminent. As Escher
explains it:
I try in my prints to testify that we live in a beautiful and orderly world, not
in a chaos without norms, even though that is how it sometimes appears.
My subjects are also often playful: I cannot refrain from demonstrating the
nonsensicalness of some of what we take to be irrefutable certainties. It
is, for example, a pleasure to deliberately mix together objects of two and
of three dimensions, surface and spatial relationships, and to make fun of
gravity. (Locher, J.L. p.19)
Alexander Calder revolutionized art by introducing of the
concepts of mobile and stabile. There’s an inescapably relationship
between the elements of time, movement and space, in mobiles and
stabiles. The interaction between the art of Calder and the spectator is
14. direct, because in addition to being able to appreciate the finished work,
it is possible to penetrate the internal spirit. For Claudia Rendón, these
concepts are important, because sometimes in life it is necessary to be
flexible and mobile. Firmness or stability is necessary for the same
reason. Calder is not attracted to themes verified. On the contrary,
interest and challenges are food for Calder’s ideas. In a series of figures
within a circus context, Calder manages to have movement associate
with the logic of balance.
Calder quickly discovered the leaders of the radical Avant-Grade, the
Abstaction-Création Group. Under their influence, Calder soon began to
explore the theories of Boccini and Maholy-Nagy, imagining the sculpture
of the future, a sculpture in motion. Calder motorized some of his
creations, but eventually abandoned this approach in order to define a
sculpture capable of engendering itself through the sophisticated play of
equilibriums and disequilibriums, using weights and counterweights.
(Lemaire, Gérard-Georges. p.10)
Claudia Rendón also tries to transmit this idea in art. Things do
not work alone. There is a measurement of equilibrium and
disequilibrium. There is always a constant balance with good and bad
things.
MEXICAN ARTISTS
Mexican artists revealing the spirit of Mexico that are included in
this research are José Guadalupe Posada, José Clemente Orozco,
Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
José Guadalupe Posada uses popular subjects with full
movement compositions in which the intention of the engraved lines has
force. The master manages a synthesis of personages to give a
personality to the images, creating coarse and vigorous scenes.
Posada had no place in the official circles of Mexican art, and he was
unconcerned about immortality, though he has achieved it where more
respected artist of his time have gained and are now forgotten. He knew as
much about form and movement as any man I have ever met. It was he
who revealed to me the inherent beauty in the Mexican people, their
struggle and aspirations. And it was he who taught me that supreme
lesson of all art, that nothing can be expressed except through the force of
felling, that the soul of every masterpiece is powerful emotion. (Diego
Rivera. p. 18)
15. Posada popularized the skulls or “calaveras” as well as multiple
images on the abuses of the government of Porfirio Diaz and intrigue
policies of the time. Today these constitute a chronicle of the society and
the policy of the times. For Rendón it is very important to leave a graphic
registry of “modus vivendi” that characterizes different societies.
Jose Guadalupe Posada is considered a “popular” artist that
represents the reality of the Mexican people. In like manner Claudia
Rendón attempts to get the public to identify with emotions, feelings and
values that conform to a human being.
In the Mexican muralist movement, José Clemente Orozco
used subjects of social and political content in post-revolutionary Mexico.
A radical position was identified. The subjects in murals were between
the fraternity, the universal revolution, the human slavery, work, arts,
sciences, migrations, human values, but mainly, the values of Mexican
people. Dr. Stacy May, comments:
Orozco’s work has many of the qualities that we like to associate with the
College. It is completely masculine. It is forthright and unmannered and
contemporary. It is democratic and deeply concerned with social values. It
would be ridiculous, certainly, for us to claim kinship with this Mexican
painter in a parochial sense, but to the larger plane of American life Orozco
is as autochthonous as New Hampshire granite, or the Mississippi River, or
Samson Occom himself. To the latter worthy the art of José Clemente
Orozco would have been far more intelligible than any of the works that
have come out of Concord. It is important, too, that Orozco’s painting is
sufficiently abstract and sufficiently universal in theme to give promise of
wearing well over the years to come.
(Reed, Alma. p.6)
Such interests are represented in diverse murals, using a
technique that Rendón admires and uses in artwork. There is free brush
work and strong contrast of color in “El Hombre de Fuego” (The man in
fire). Claudia Rendón wants the spectator to see the impact the
message. In each artwork like in the artwork of Orozco, the human being
is apparently a unique subject to represent. That is why the architecture,
the instruments of work and the landscape, appear reduced to simple
elements.
Diego Rivera paints a diversity of images that go from
vanguardism to nationalism, using techniques from oil to watercolor to
fresco. This great Mexican artist painted the portrait, the landscape and
representations of Mexican history. The most influential work to Claudia
Rendón was the representation of children, including the circumstances
that affect children within daily life.
16. Children and the world inspired and made Rivera realize the
appreciation of Mexican reality and representation of social and political
restlessness. Rivera allowed emotions, feelings and values to reach a
society that was waiting for inspiration. Claudia Rendón admires the
sensitivity that the master had toward infantile characteristics and
gestures. These traits express emotions, feelings and values, many of
which are respected and favored by the adult world.
It is evident that Rivera had strong and defined expressivity. The
art is illustrative, ample and specific, real, clear and objective. The
children of Diego Rivera represent children from everywhere.
The master Rivera had liked one of its permanent subjects to the children
but not only to the Mexican indigenous children that represented
repeatedly in the murals, but the universal boy, beyond its ethnic
characteristics and of their social and cultural circumstances. Thus, it
painted to childhood like one of the stages of the human development that
needs to be object of attention, care, respect and protection. (Miguel Rojo
Limón. p. 9)
The moral that David Alfaro Siqueiros leaves Claudia Rendón,
is to “Have the technology to the service of the art, being the man
master, not slaved of the technology”,
(http://www.siqueiros.inba.gob.mx), when accruing new techniques,
modern materials and tools and incorporating other elements. The result
was an expressive and energetic art capable of transmitting the message
appropriately. Activism and strong social and political commitment was
reflected.
“Sunrise of Mexico” is a paean of joy painted on the spur of the moment,
the moment when the Mexican oil fields were taken away from English and
American interest and were returned to the nation. It is one of the rare
pictures by Siqueiros in which the mood is not at all tragic. The change of
scale from head to arms and hands, the sculpturesque modeling of some
parts and the willful lack of definition in others (as if the artist’s eye could
not distinctly see a model in swift motion), illustrate Siqueiros’ theory of
painting not in terms of ecstatic vision by rather in the composite image of a
motion picture. (Virginia Stewart. p.59)
Siqueiros contrasts color, and uses fluid line loaded of emotion in
compositions in which the geometry is structural and hidden. Impeccable
quality is the result and all pictorial effects lead inevitably to deep
emotion of the spectator.
Claudia Rendón makes artwork with the intention to arrive at all
type of public, without mattering if they are expert or lovers of the art.
17. For Rendón like for Siqueiros the important thing is to transmit the
message to the people in general.
In his mural conceptions, Siqueiros assumes that the man-in-the street who
enters a public building decorated with murals will view the work neither as
professional art critic nor as art lover. Nevertheless, Siqueiros respects this
hypothetical man and plans his pictures in such a way that a sidewise
glimpse will prove satisfying to anyone who hurries through the building on
his everyday affairs. (Virginia Stewart. p.59)
PERSONAL INFLUENCES
Other artists influential to Claudia Rendón’s artwork and the spirit
of this paper are Gabriel Vargas Bernal, Alberto Uderzo, Joaquín
Salvador Lavado “Quino”, Carmen Lomas Garza and Mario Rendón
Lozano.
The values that Gabriel Vargas represents in the “Burrón
Family” are of optimism, tenacity, integrity, dignity and the greatness of
the Mexican people. These are deeply rooted values in spite of the
socioeconomic situation that is of concern.
Borola: With enthusiasm, the deficiencies are smaller; one can laugh of the
hardships and from which it comes to us above.
Regino: Doubt does not fit that the Mexicans are endure ness, we resist all
without complaint.
(La Familia Burrón. Segunda Época. No. 336. p. 5)
Gabriel Vargas knew to observe the Mexican people with
sensitivity. The two dimensions of art were filled with emotions, feelings
and values of a whole nation. Claudia Rendón has learned of the old
and new Mexico from the work of Vargas. The circumstances of the
Mexican people seemed to be the same through every year of the Burrón
Family existence and times have not changed the Mexican problem.
The humorist Leon Ferrari (who made in Mexico a version of the Cuban comic
strip Anita de Montemar) bet 10 thousand pesos to him arguing that the
sketcher could not create a feminine personage with the characteristics of the
main personage of Superlocos. Vargas accepted the challenge and left to
cross the streets of the city, in search of inspiration. He visited vicinities,
cabarets, markets, bars and pulque bars. Thus the Burrón Family created,
formed by a honest and working barber (exact copy of a friend of the author), a
willful and inserted woman who, in spite of living in the poverty, she tried to act
like aristocrat (personage inspired by the mother of another friend), and 2
adolescent children who suffer the own restlessness of their age and social
18. condition (based on own experiences of the young sketcher). The first number
came to the light in 1948.
(http://www.eureka.com.mx/ecsa/ga/vargas/vargas.htm)
The formal merits of the “Burrón Family” do not depend on the
masters, but on the perfect integration of the drawing, the language, the
technique, and message.
Claudia Rendón found essential values in the everyday life
represented in the work of Alberto Uderzo. The artist has incorporated
the thematic elements of Uderzo in personal work. The personages
inhabiting the Gallic village of Uderzo were brave and significantly able to
overcome the adversities that abound in the world. When one sees the
diverse situations that may arise, when respecting and helping fellow
man become more needed, just then can the correct sanctions be placed
upon abuse? When friends are not left in necessity and the place of
living defended against all invasions, then the emotions are open to
brave soldiers. Rendón translates these values into personal art.
If the art serves to communicate the message then it is important
to Claudia to have portrayed the full significance of chance to the subject.
By differentiating chance Claudia will approach value, the final result and
the ultimate value. As Alberto Uderzo explains it:
First and foremost, it is the story that is most important, other than what one
might think. I can't imagine how you could draw without a good story! I was
often asked this question because people thought that I drew and that
Goscinny added the dialogs afterwards. No, that's not the way it's done.
Just like for shows, movies or plays, there's an author who writes, and who
gives directions so the decorators build the right sets, and the director
works with the actors around the text. It's exactly the same thing for a
comic. So, now I'm writing a text that will only be converted into drawings
at the very end. (http://www.asterix.tm.fr/english/index.htm)
Claudia Rendón admires also, Joaquín Salvador Lavado
“Quino”, neatness of line, the synthetic drawing, without text, with a
direct message, as well as the elegance of the figure form, the harmony
in the proportion and the expression in the human beings. Before
beginning to draw, Claudia, like Quino, considers it important to
document the event in order to cut down the errors in the scene. When
the historical moment is used Quino presents work that can be respected
by all observers. Quino expresses:
But this is accompanied by a discipline: that of knowing a subject very well
before drawing. He also instilled a work ethic in me that included having
respect for the profession, for the reader and for oneself. Also to consider
19. each drawing, as insignificant as that drawing may seem at the time, as if I
were decorating the Sistine Chapel. This is where I get the obsession for
knowing a subject well before I draw it.
(http://www.quino.com.ar/english/maestros.html)
Quino is an observer of one who appreciates true hearts,
wanting to share with the world. The subjects always are effective
because there is deep human and social sensitivity:
For example, an ideal political situation is the one that appears in the
restaurants, the client whom it loves to eat is the town and the young man
who depends on maître, and this one of the humor of the cook, is those
that exert the power. Therefore no handling real personages but situations
referred to the reality that is an advantage. It is an a temporal social humor
that allows us to resort to ancient sources to inspire to us by a present
problematic. Nothing better than to approach to the Old Testament to
verify that the corruption, the treason, the ambition of being able, the fear
to the death, the love, the familiar relation, etc. accompany to us from
always and are acquiring different forms.
(http://www.clubcultura.com/humor/quino/reportaje/13.htm)
From Quino, Claudia Rendón learned that a good drawing can
give force to a good idea. If is not a good drawing, the idea is destroyed
completely.
Just like Carmen Lomas Garza, Claudia Rendón identifies with
the moments lived with the family during childhood. Decisive moments
for the formation character are shaped in both Garza’s and Rendón’s
work. Fundamental importance is attached to the moments that led to
the representation of cultural origin in the family relationships.
The pictures in this book are all painted from my memories of growing up in
Kingsville, Texas, near the border with Mexico. From the time I was a
young girl I always dreamed of becoming an artist. I practiced drawing
every day; I studied art in school; and I finally did become an artist. My
family has inspired an encouraged me for all these years. This is my book
of family pictures. (Carmen Lomas Garza. p. 3)
The scenes that represent Lomas Garza, of the families’ daily
life, especially the Mexican American family, in which basic
characteristics are similar to the life in Mexico, touch Claudia Rendón
deeply. Each individual in the paintings of Garza is indispensable for the
design of work and family function. Although the scenes are simple and
daily, and could seem almost insignificant, there is nevertheless a
relationship to moments that are in memory and give a sense of life, as in
20. Garza’s painting “Beds for Dreaming”, long and brotherly conversations,
concerning the distance, time or place, with sister Isolda.
My sister and I used to go up on the roof on summer nights and just
stay there and talk about the stars and the constellations. We also
talked about the future. I knew since I was 13 years old that I wanted to
be an artist. And all those things that I dreamed on doing as an artist,
I’m finally doing now. My mother was the one who inspired me to be an
artist. She made up our meds to sleep in and have regular dreams, but
she also laid out the bed for our dreams of the future. (Carmen Lomas
Garza. p. 30)
Mario Rendón Lozano, is doubtless, influenced the artwork and
the personality of Claudia Rendón. It is through Mario Rendón’s
concepts and explanations that Claudia not only understands the artwork
of all the other artists written about here. It is Mario Rendón’s artwork
where Claudia finds the references that will govern both artwork and life.
During many years, I took like object for my plastic work vegetables,
mainly the xerophyte plants and the seeds. There I found the suitable
forms to represent the subjects that then interested to me, mainly the one
of the family.
(Mario Rendón Lozano. Catalog: Mi Encuentro / Mi Historia. p. 1)
Observing the daily life of Mario Rendón, and the artistic
trajectory, makes Claudia realize the importance of moral principles
governing the individual and the world. These moral principles will allow
response to the actions that sustain the ideals of each person, and will
be reflected in the fruit of all work.
Later, I initiated a new stage looking for expressive possibilities in the
human figure, but a series of alterations in my daily life happened and a
trip to the foreigner coincided so that my sculpture task underwent a
drastic change of course. (Mario Rendón Lozano. Catalog: Mi Encuentro /
Mi Historia. p. 1)
The themes and techniques of Mario Rendón allow Claudia to
have a perception of the world beyond that understood by the ordinary
soul. When the master makes series of sculptures that are simply
sketches, have aggressive textures and impressive expressions, Claudia
is able to understand and empathize with the feelings contained in the
work regarding the socio-economic situation in Mexico. The social
significance is written off by Mario as follows:
21. If at the present moment, the being woman still represents a series of
additional problems to which commonly we as men have in our daily life,
product of the religious dogmas and a partial and deficient education, we
nevertheless found, that these cruel problems concentrate and worsen in the
mazahuas women who come to the great city in search of the sustenance
for themselves and their children, facing the fact of fighting dramatically to
the most adverse conditions, unprotected, humiliated and in many occasions
persecuted. (Mario Rendón Lozano. p.34)
The daily coexistence with the concepts, sculpture and pictorial
work of the master, combined with several national and international
trips, allowed Claudia to learned and value the culture of Mexico. When
Mario Rendón began to use the representations, images and symbols of
old pre-Columbian civilizations, and used the images to express
nationalist ideas, Claudia found personal emotion, feeling and value.
The necessity of express now of different way, to look for more suitable
forms for new feelings, my indigenous blood and my distance with Mexico
took me towards to this sensational and unique encounter with the thought
and the plastic world which today we know like Mesoamerica.
(Mario Rendón Lozano. Catalog: Mi Encuentro / Mi Historia. p. 1)
Mario Rendón understands that having self-knowledge allows
expression of moral principles based on good human values. Adversity
must be faced, including some that is devastating, because far from
being destroyed; this type of individual will be able to transmit emotions,
feelings and values to future generations; as a result creating a cycle of
life.
The Aztec Warrior has been able to rebuild himself and flourish even
though he seemed to be destroyed. He reconstructs himself and grows
because the original seed of his self and has most profound feeling and
roots continue to live within him and his blood. (Mario Rendón Lozano.
p.75)
Claudia also admires Mario Rendón for restlessness in the
investigation of new materials and techniques. In creating the modern,
the avant-garde, the new, Mario pushes the envelope to arrive at a point
in time that merges the past with the present. The new materials blend
with the ideas that have existed for centuries.
I began the sculptures using the concept of the solid block. This allows me
to achieve a series of carvings directly on the concrete. I work with a
contemporary architectural material from the point of view of a sculptor and
have developed a new technique, which I call ‘Rendocreto’. I have applied
22. some texture and color in the way of the sculptors of ancient Mexico.
(Mario Rendón Lozano. p.76)
With an even-tempered and disciplined temper, Mario Rendón is
able to solve any challenge in daily life. In the process artistic
challenges, through the dominion of the technique, capacity of synthesis,
sensitivity to human matters and a mastery of diverse materials, are
carried out professionally in artwork.
Is the sculptor of the group, his natural is reposed, observant, very
laborious and imaginative. Discreet and pulchritude, does not fight
controversy nor verbal battles, but in the plasma of his creations: clay,
limestone, iron, polyester, Carlit stone, weld and stony materials. …In all
his work, there is a doubtless reference to the man. The beings which
surge of his hands... seem to talk about to reduction of the human program,
but more like a future synthesis than like a regression towards the past.
(Lic. Miguel Álvarez Acosta. Catalog: Formas, Concreto, Amor. p. 1. Junio
1970)
CHAPTER 3
ARTISTIC WORK OF CLAUDIA RENDÓN
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
In this chapter, the creative process of Claudia Rendón
represents emotions, feelings and values. The artist feels it important to
stress the need of having access to the necessary elements that allow
the analysis of circumstances emitting just judgments regarding life
episodes.
The art work created at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, is
literally a “Diary from the Heart”, hoping that through these images a
message can be transmitted to the viewer. It is important to have
knowledge of the different points of view, the good one, and the bad one.
People can have all the elements that complement one another, and in
that way, reach equilibrium. In other words, the fact of knowing
something bad makes the human mind realize the existence of the good
and vice versa. Both concepts must be in equal quantity. Otherwise, if
everything is good at all times, the concept of what is wrong begins to be
forgotten, and the ambition of getting something better appears. What
used to be good is not good any longer, and stars becoming something
bad, and vice versa. That’s the case of the extremes, and the extremes
are not good for healthy relationship with others. This is why equilibrium
is so important to Claudia Rendón.
23. ART WORK # 1 / OBRA # 1
“LIFE – VIDA”
Acrylic on wood – Acrílico sobre madera
16” x 23” – 41 cm x 58 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Birth, the first event that happens to people when
they enter the world, is wonderful. In order to born, to
have life, co participation of two essences is required. In
this painting, life is represented by a seed in the process
of germination, all promoted by water, sun and earth.
El primer suceso que ocurre a todo mundo, es
maravilloso. El hecho de nacer, de tener vida, requiere
de la cooparticipación de dos escencias. En éste caso la
vida es representada con una semilla, la cual necesita
agua, sol y tierra para germinar.
24. ART WORK # 2 / OBRA # 2
“THIS IS IT – ESTO ES TODO”
Acrylic on wood – Acrílico sobre madera
20” x 16” – 50 cm x 41 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Essential things that help in transmitting life can
only be seen in the eyes of the heart. What is going to
nourish an individual being? This question is answered
by the concept of positive values. Here in painting “This
is it – Esto es todo”, a pair of hands brings to the small
plant the nourishment of value. The reception of values
by the plant promotes growth that leads the individual to
feel with the heart.
Lo esencial solo puede verse con los ojos del
corazón. Lo que va a nutrir de una manera positiva la
escencia, sera la capacidad sentir y asimilar valores
positivos. En esta pintura un par de manos ofrecen los
valores fundamenteles para fortificar. El hecho de que
sean asimilados correctamente, dependerá de la
sensibilidad de cada individuo.
25. ART WORK # 3 / OBRA # 3
“WITH ALL THE ELEMENTS – CON TODOS LOS
ELEMENTOS”
Acrylic on wood – Acrílico sobre madera
16” x 23” – 41 cm x 58 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
The life of each individual can be intensely fortified
if all the elements are available. The little plant now
became a tree, which trunk is hard and healthy thanks
that this tree can perceive and assimilate all balanced
elements in a harmonious form.
La vida de cada individuo puede ser fortuita,
plena, intensamente fortificada, si se cuenta con todos
los elementos a favor. La plantita se ha convertido en
árbol, cuyo tronco es fuerte y saludable, gracias a que
puede asimilar todos los elementos equilibrados, en una
forma armoniosa.
26. ART WORK # 4 / OBRA # 4
“COMMUNICATION – COMUNICACIÓN”
Acrylic on wood – Acrílico sobre madera
20” x 16” – 50 cm x 41 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Once the individual is self confident, exterior
communication with other individuals occurs.
Communication is represented by the Aztec symbol,
which is located up in between all other elements, without
disturbing vital space, which is important in order to have
a good communication.
Una vez que el individuo, el árbol, se encuentra
bien consigo mismo, se puede llevar a cabo la
comunicación hacia el exterior, es decir, con sus
semejantes. Es representada por el símbolo azteca, la
cual se encuentra ubicada enmedio de todos los
elementos, sin irrumpir en el espacio vital de ningún otro
elemento, guardando de ésta forma, respeto por los
mismos, elemento necesario para lograr una buena
comunicación.
27. ART WORK # 5 / OBRA # 5
“ABUSE OF POWER – PREPOTENCIA”
Acrylic on wood – Acrílico sobre madera
16” x 23” – 41 cm x 58 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Conflict occurs when abuse of power is used by
one element over the others. In this painting, abuse of
power is represented by black clouds invading vital space
of others elements. When interrupting communication
between individuals delicate natural equilibrium is broken
El conflicto que genera la prepotencia de alguno
de los elementos, sobre el resto de ellos. Queda
representado en esta pintura con nubes negras
invadiendo el espacio vital del resto de los elementos,
interrumpiendo la comunicación entre individuos y
rompiendo de ésta forma el delicado equilibrio natural.
28. ART WORK # 6 / OBRA # 6
“LIFE AGAINST THE TREASON – VIDA SOBRE LA
TRAICIÓN”
Acrylic on wood – Acrílico sobre madera
20” x 16” – 50 cm x 41 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
The result of abuse of power is represented by all the
beneficial elements from the origin, now against the individual,
the tree. This destruction is the consequence of broken
natural balance. Nevertheless, the roots and trunk where
already fortified and healthy. Now more life can be generated
by this reconstituted tree and the cycle of life perpetuated.
El resultado destructivo del abuso de poder, queda
representado con todos los elementos originalmente
benéficos, tornados en perjudiciales para el individuo, para el
árbol. Dicha aparente destrucción es consecuencia de la
ruptura del sagrado equilibrio natural. Sin embargo, debido a
que en un origen las raíces y el tronco crecieron fuertes y
saludables, combaten a la destrucción, sin dejar que ésta de
fin a la vida del individuo, sino muy por el contrario, éste es
capáz de renacer e inclusive de generar otra vida, dando así
continuidad al Ciclo de la Vida.
29. ART WORK # 7 / OBRA # 7
“HELLO FROM MEXICO! – HOLA DESDE MÉXICO!”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
12½” x 16” – 32 cm x 41 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
The artist and sister are in the homeland, called
Xochimilco, flowers place, in Mexico City. This was
home while the parents attended school in Italy and
France, creating huge sculptures and marble pottery.
While separated, the children tried to hold on to the
memory of parents in the heart.
La artista y su hermana se encuentran en casa,
en Xochimilco, lugar de flores, en la ciudad de México.
Permanecieron ahi durante el período en que los padres
atendieron cursos en Italia y Francia, donde crearon
grandes esculturas y vasijas de mármol. Durante la
separación las niñas se aferraban al recuerdo de sus
padres, en el corazón.
30. ART WORK # 8 / OBRA # 8
“MY HOME – MI CASA”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
13” x 17” – 33 cm x 43 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Claudia’s fifteen years of life were spent in this
home. Originally the home was owned by Claudia’s
grandparents and used as an automotive workshop
where the grandfather worked on cars. After the
grandfather died the workshop was divided in half, one
half for the mechanic son and one for the sculptor son,
Claudia’s father. The grandmother still lives in the higher
house and is represented by the walking figure. Others
in the family are depicted as cars.
Claudia pasó quince años viviendo en ésta casa,
la cual originalmente perteneció a su abuelo quien era
mecánico. Después de su muerte, el taller quedó
dividido en dos; una mitad para el hijo mecánico y la otra
mitad para el hijo escultor, el padre de Claudia. La
abuela todavía vive en la casa de arriba, representada
caminando. Los otros miembros de la familia son
representados por sus automóviles.
31. ART WORK # 9 / OBRA # 9
“OUR MAGIC – NUESTRA MAGIA”
Watercolor on paper – Acuarela sobre papel
22” x 16” – 56 cm x 41 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Claudia had a son, Darío. Mother and son love is
shown here by the touch of nose and eye contact. The
electricity and magic of mother-son love radiates
throughout this watercolor.
Claudia tiene un hijo, Darío. El amor entre madre
e hijo es representado por el toque de narices y la
Mirada profunda. La electricidad y magia de este cariño
es irradiado a través de esta acuarela.
32. ART WORK # 10 / OBRA # 10
“AGAINST THE FLOW, BUT SMILING! – CONTRA
CORRIENTE, PERO SONRIENTE!”
India Ink – Tinta china
22” x 15” – 56 cm x 38 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
The strong daily flow against the artist and son is
represented by dense horizontal lines. Though the daily
fight for life responsibilities are carried on the shoulders,
as are joy and happiness. These are the power of the
motor that generates energy.
La fortaleza de la inevitable contracorriente a la
que la artista se enfrenta todos los días junto con su hijo,
es representada por densas líneas horizontales. No
obstante, que hay que luchar con las responsabilidades y
los problemas a cuestas, tambien se van cargando
muchas alegrías, las cuales finalmente son el
combustible del motor que genera la energía.
33. ART WORK # 11 / OBRA # 11
“FREEDOM – LIBRE”
Watercolor on paper – Acuarela sobre papel
14” x 11½” – 35.5 cm x 29 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Claudia Rendón, the artist, at age ten, with an
optimistic attitude, open arms and heart, is ready to
receive the best of life, and to let go of the past,
represented by black birds.
Claudia Rendón, la artista, a la edad de diez
años, tiene una actitud optimista, con corazón y brazos
abiertos, para recibir lo major de la vida, liberando el
pasado representado por aves negras.
34. ART WORK # 12 / OBRA # 12
“SILKSCREENS AT SCHOOL – PANTALLAS DE SEDA,
EN LA ESCUELA”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
17” x 13” – 44 cm x 33 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
In this self portrait, the artist represents the daily
adversity of school days. There is no choice, but to
face them, after all.
En este autorretrato, la artista representa las
adversidades con las que tropieza durante su quehacer
académico. No quedando más remedio que
confrontarlos de frente.
35. ART WORK # 13 / OBRA # 13
“SELF PORTRAIT – AUTORRETRATO”
India Ink – Tinta china
21” x 15” – 54 cm x 38 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
A self portrait of the artist, representing the
volcanic energy that is inside by the thick and free
brush lines. There are no eyes drawn in this picture.
Internal concentration needs to be generated in order to
reach a specific objective.
En este autorretrato de la artista, está
representada la energía volcánica interior, a través de
líneas gruesas y de trazo libre. La ausencia de ojos en
el dibujo, significa la concentración a lo interno que se
está generando, para alcanzar determinado objetivo.
36. ART WORK # 14 / OBRA # 14
“DREAMS – SUEÑOS”
India Ink – Tinta china
22” x 15” – 56 cm x 38 cm
Kingsville, TX., 2000
The artist is attempting to take away the dirt of
the world from Darío, a concept that is the dream of any
mother.
La artista trata de proteger y alejar a Darío de un
mundo cruel y sucio. Éste es el sueño de cualquier
madre.
37. ART WORK # 15 / OBRA # 15
“MELANCHOLIA – MELANCOLÍA”
India Ink – Tinta china
22 ½” x 17 ½” – 57 cm x 44.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
The weigh of melancholy, is carried in the chest,
where the heart is, and where it weighs more.
La carga de la melancholia, es cargada en el
pecho, donde está el corazón y donde pesa más.
38. ART WORK # 16 / OBRA # 16
“MY GHOST – MI FANTASMA”
Pastel on paper – Pastel sobre papel
12” x 9” – 30.5 cm x 23 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
The contrast of orange and yellow against the
black, makes it bright and alive. This image represents
the energy that deaths can remain alive in the memory,
through good or bad actions.
El contraste del anaranjado y amarillo contra el
negro, realzan y dan vida a esta imagen que
representa la energía que puede dejar un espíritu en el
recuerdo de los vivos, gracias a sus acciones, ya sean
buenas o malas.
39. ART WORK # 17 / OBRA # 17
“THE GHOST OF BLANCA – EL FANTASMA DE
BLANCA”
Pastel on paper – Pastel sobre papel
12” x 9” – 30.5 cm x 23 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Colors are related with the death day of Mexico.
The memory of a ghost from the artist’s childhood
allows purple and hot pink to come out.
Con el morado y el rosa mexicano, colores que
están relacionados con el día de muertos en México,
queda representada la energía que emana el recuerdo
del fantasma de la infancia de la artista.
40. ART WORK # 18 / OBRA # 18
“DARÍO”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
18” x 13” – 46 cm x 33 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
The silkscreen on the opposite page is a portrait
of Darío Rendón. The background represents the
personality of the artist’s son. Darío is a happy
Mexican child with a strict demeanor that is almost
square and aligned in Dario’s daily activities.
La serigrafía de la página opuesta retrata a
Darío Rendón. El diseño del fondo, representa la
personalidad del hijo de la artista. Darío es un niño
mexicano felíz , pero con un carácter rígido y extricto,
todo tiene que estar perfectamente alineado y
reticulado en sus acciones cotidianas.
41. ART WORK # 19 / OBRA # 19
“EN MI CORAZÓN – IN MY HEART”
Acrylic on wood – Acrílico sobre madera
16” x 23” – 41 cm x 58 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Darío is depicted in the center of Claudia’s heart,
protecting with a hand and rounding with the warmness
of home, represented by the house Aztec symbol, and
transferring the heritage of the country of birth.
Darío se encuentra en medio del corazón de
Claudia, quien lo protege con su mano, rodeándolo a
su vez, con calor de hogar, representado por el símbolo
para casa azteca, y heredándole la cultura de su país
de orígen.
42. ART WORK # 20 / OBRA # 20
“DARÍO”
Conté pencil on paper - Lápiz conté sobre papel
22 ½” x 19” – 57 cm x 48 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Dario’s eyes reflecting brightness that gives the
illusion and innocence of life. This portrait was drawn
from the passport picture when mother and son arrived
to Kingsville, TX.
La alegría de Darío es reflejada a través de la
inocencia de sus ojos. El retrato se sacó de la
fotografía que usó en su pasaporte cuando llegaron
madre e hijo a Kingsville, TX.
43. ART WORK # 21 / OBRA # 21
“LISA AND THE CHILDREN – LISA Y LOS NIÑOS”
Conté pencil on paper - Lápiz conté sobre papel
19” x 25” – 48 cm x 63.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Dario’s teacher is Lisa Turcotte from the
University Nursery School, shown here with some
classmates enjoying the day and learning at TAMUK’s
farm.
La maestra de Darío, Lisa Turcotte de la
guardería de la universidad, junto con algunos
compañeritos, se encuentran disfrutando del día y
aprendiendo en la granja de TAMUK.
44. ART WORK # 22 / OBRA # 22
“DREAM OF A BOMB – SUEÑO DE UNA BOMBA”
Charcoal on paper – Carboncillo sobre papel
30” x 22” – 76 cm x 56 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Darío with a toy named Sergio, looking at all the
difficulties that are waiting outside in the real world.
Darío is confident because he is standing on the solid
ground where fortified roots are holding all in existence.
Darío junto con su muñeco Sergio, ve en el
horizonte las dificultades del mundo adulto que le
aguardan. Sin embargo, sabe que cuenta con raíces
fuertes que le permitirán estar en pie para
confrontarlas.
45. ART WORK # 23 / OBRA # 23
“GOOD MORNING, MOM! – BUEN DÍA, MAMI!”
India ink – Tinta china
56 cm x 38 cm – 22” x 15”
Kingsville, TX, 2000
The simplicity and happiness of Darío when
saying good morning, is represented in this image by
clean and simple plot. This is an attempt to represent
the transparency of the light mood when Darío is
waking up.
La sencillez y alegría con que da los buenos
días Darío, es representada en esta imagen con trazos
limpios e igualmente sencillos. Al mismo tiempo la
escacés de trazos pretende dar como resultado una
imagen casi transparente, que equivaldría a la ligereza
del despertar de Darío.
46. ART WORK # 24 / OBRA # 24
“DARÍO-SCORPIO – DARÍO-ESCORPIÓN”
India ink – Tinta china
22 ½” x 17 ½”–57 cm x 44.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Darío looks this way when on the verge of deep
anger, which is kept in the heart, represented by thick
black lines for the shoulders and neck. This way the
image feels heavy and rigid.
Cuando Darío se enoja, carga el peso de su
amargura sobre sus hombros y lo guarda en lo más
profundo de su corazón. Esto es representado a base
de líneas gruesas en los hombros y cuello, haciendo
sentir la imagen pesada y rígida.
47. ART WORK # 25 / OBRA # 25
“YOUR TRANSPARENCY – TU TRANSPARENCIA”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
10” x 8 ½” x 9 ½” – 25 cm x 21.5 cm x 24 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
When somebody is talking to Darío,
transparency allows tenderness and innocence of
Dario’s soul. That light and happy expression is
represented in this ceramic.
Cuando platicas con Darío, sus ojos
transparentes te dejan ver la ternura de su alma. La
inocencia y alegría brotan por su mirada invadiendo la
tuya. Esa expresión ligera y alegre es la que se
representa en esta cerámica.
48. ART WORK # 26 / OBRA # 26
“MARIO”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
25¼” x 20” – 64 cm x 51 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Mario Rendón Lozano, the artist’s father, is
always content and knows how to exist among others.
The foundation of Mario’s ideas exists in well
researched knowledge. This is represented by
harmonious color in the face and a rhombus web for
knowledge.
Mario Rendón Lozano, el padre de la artista,
siempre está conteno y sabe como llevarse bien con
los demás. Las ideas que forjan el carácter y el trabajo
de Mario, son fundamentadas en el estudio. Esto está
representado con colores armoniosos en la cara y una
red de rombos representa sus conocimientos.
49. ART WORK # 27 / OBRA # 27
“MY TEACHER – MI MAESTRO”
Lithograph – Litografía
20” x 13” – 51 cm x 33 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
Claudia remembers the artist father in the studio,
always working, in deep thought and tranquility.
Claudia recuerda a su padre en su estudio,
siempre trabajando, profundamente concentrado y
tranquilo.
50. ART WORK # 28 / OBRA # 28
“BLANCA”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
25½” x 20” – 65 cm x 51 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
In this silkscreen of Blanca Garduño, the artist’s
mother, the influence of Magritte’s surrealism is
represented.
Esta serigrafía que representa a Blanca
Garduño, la madre de la artista. Esta imágen está
influenciada por el surrealismo de Magritte.
51. ART WORK # 29/ OBRA # 29
“YOUR FORTITUDE – TU FORTALEZA”
Embossed metal – Metal repujado
30” x 24” – 76 cm x 61 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
This artwork represents the ideas and believes
of Blanca Garduño, the artist’s mother. These ideas
and beliefs are Blanca’s foundation, recognition of a
strong temperament, which allows Blanca to succeed in
most difficult situations.
Esta pieza representa las ideas y creencias en
las que se fundamenta Blanca Garduño, madre de la
artista. Es a su vez, un reconocimiento a su
temperamento fuerte, que la ha mantenido de pie ante
las adversidades que ha confrontado.
52. ART WORK # 30 / OBRA # 30
“ISOLDA”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
25½” x 20” – 65 cm x 51 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Isolda Rendón, the artist’s sister, always tries to
give the impression of being under control. Carrying
the weight of the world under water is fragmenting
Isolda’s soul.
Isolda Rendón, la hermana de la artista, siempre
trata de dar la impresión de que todo lo tiene bajo
control. No importa que vaya cargando el mundo sobre
sus hombros, lo cual fragmenta su alma.
53. ART WORK # 31 / OBRA # 31
“HOMAGE TO ISOLDA – HOMENAJE A ISOLDA”
Lithograph – Litografía
20” x 13” – 51 cm x 33 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
Isolda is a professional ballerina of Mexican
folklore. When performing with passion the soul is
revealed to the public. Some dances need masks like
the one in the background. Claudia attempts to give
homage to Isolda’s work with this image.
Isolda es bailarina profesional de folklore
mexicano. Siempre que sale al escenario, lo hace
entregándose con el alma desnuda a su público.
Algunos bailables utilizan máscaras como la del fondo,
en el vestuario. Claudia le hace un reconocimiento a
su esperado trabajo con esta imagen dedicada a su
hermana.
54. ART WORK # 32 / OBRA # 32
“YAMILA”
Conté pencil on paper - Lápiz conté sobre papel
19” x 13 ¼” – 48 cm x 33.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Yamila Palacios Rendon, the artist’s nice at six
months, has a face reflecting the wonder of what’s
going on while discovering the world.
Yamila Palacios Rendón, sobrina de la artista,
tiene seis meses en este dibujo. Sus ojos reflejan la
admiración al ir descubriendo las maravillas que el
mundo le ofrece.
55. ART WORK # 33 / OBRA # 33
“YAMILA”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
25 ¼” x 20” – 64 cm x 51 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
When Yamila was one year old, laughter,
happiness and talking were the menu of the day.
Flowers and color in this work represent the laughs,
smiles and jabber of the young child.
Yamila tiene un año de edad, y los colores vivos
y las flores del fondo, representan su alegría y sus
ganas de platicar con todo el mundo durante el día.
56. ART WORK # 34 / OBRA # 34
“LEONOR”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
25 ¼” x 20” – 64 cm x 51 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Leonor Lozano Garcia, the artist’s grandmother,
transmitted the Mexican traditions of cuisine,
celebration, important days and the serenity and joyful
nature associated with life knowledge.
Leonor Lozano García, la abuela de la artista, le
transmitió las tradiciones mexicanas culinarias, así
como las celebraciones y días importantes, a través de
su serenidad y sus conocimientos de la vida.
57. ART WORK # 35 / OBRA # 35
“ONCE UPON THE TIME – ERASE UNA VEZ”
Silk screen print – Serigrafía
23” x 34” – 58.5 cm x 84 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
Sometimes, the family becomes apart when the
members do not have good communication and
comprehension. This silkscreen print represents the
daily activity of the family that existed for the artist once
upon the time.
La familia, en ocasiones se desintegra por falta
de comunicación y comprensión entre sus miembros.
Esta serigrafía representa la actividad cotidiana de la
familia que alguna vez tuvo la artista.
58. ART WORK # 36 / OBRA # 36
“MONTSE”
Conté pencil on paper - Lápiz conté sobre papel
15” x 10½” – 38 cm x 27 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Montserrat Suarez, Dario’s friend, is a very shy
girl but will show a smile. The fine trace technique
applied on her hair, attempts to represent that shyness.
Monserrat Suárez, amiguita de Darío, aunque es
tímida, esboza una sonrisa. El trazo fino de su cabello,
pretende representar esa timidez.
59. ART WORK # 37 / OBRA # 37
“ROBERTO JUAN HERRERA JR.”
Conté pencil on paper - Lápiz conté sobre papel
25” x 19” – 63.5 cm x 48 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
Roberto Juan Herrera Jr., the son of the artist’s
mail carrier, is proud of belonging to the United States
Navy and wants to give back to the efforts of parents to
provide an education.
Roberto Juan Herrera Jr., el hijo del cartero de la
artista, se nota orgulloso de pertenecer a la Marina de
los Estados Unidos de América, expresando gratitud a
su madre y padre por los esfuerzos hechos para lograr
su educación.
60. ART WORK # 38 / OBRA # 38
“TONY & INO”
Watercolor on paper - Acuarela sobre papel
20” x 22” – 51 cm x 26 cm
Kingsville, TX, 1999
Ino and Tony Alvarez are good friends of the
artist. Ino, in blue, gives the appearance of being able
to solve very difficult situations. Tony, in red, reflects
the tranquility that allows balance and justice in any
taken decision.
Ino y Tony Álvarez son buenas amigas de la
artista. Ino, de azul, tiene una expresión que indica la
seguridad que siente para resolver situaciones difíciles.
Tony, de rojo, refleja la tranquilidad ecuánime que le
permite alcanzar el equilibrio para tomar decisiones
justas y equitativas.
61. ART WORK # 39 / OBRA # 39
“WOMEN’S CENTER LOGO – LOGO PARA EL CENTRO
DE MUJERES”
Offset print – Impresión en Offset
17” x 11” – 43 cm x 28 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2000
This logo was created for the Women’s Center of
Texas A&M University-Kingsville representing women
succeeding in the State of Texas.
Este logo fue creado para el Centro de Mujeres
de Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Representa a la
mujer surgiendo victoriosa sobre el territorio texano.
62. ART WORK # 40 / OBRA # 40
“THE BALANCE OF THE FAMILY – EL EQUILIBRIO DE
LA FAMILIA”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
2 ½” x 3 ¾” x 3 ¾” – 6.5 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
The family balance is delicate and difficult to
maintain. That is shown in this piece by a narrow base
and thick body in which three of the artist families are
represented.
El equilibrio de la familia además de ser
delicado, es difícil de mantener. Por esa razón, esta
cerámica tiene una base angosta con un espesor
grueso que sostener representando las tres familias
que conforman la familia de la artista.
63. ART WORK # 41 / OBRA # 41
“FOR YOUR RITUALS – PARA TUS RITUALES”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
3 ½” x 2” – 9 cm x 5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
All families have a ritual that needs to be done in
order to preserve either the internal traditions or the
ones from the original place. This ceramic represents
the intimate place where prayers are offered as in Aztec
tradition.
Todas las familias tienen algún ritual que cumplir
para preservar sus tradiciones del lugar de orígen, o a
lo interno de la propia familia. Esta cerámica
representa el lugar íntimo en el que se ofrece para
recibir, tal como en la tradición azteca.
64. ART WORK # 42 / OBRA # 42
“A LITTLE SECRET – UN SECRETITO”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
2 ½” x 1” – 6.5 cm x 2.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
Where emotions and feelings exist, there is
always a secret. This ceramic is the perfect hidden
place in the soul for those significant moments of
emotion, feeling and values.
Con las emociones y sentimientos, siempre se
guarda un pequeño secreto. Esta cerámica es el lugar
en el alma donde se guardan esos significativos
momentos de emoción, sentimiento o valores.
65. ART WORK # 43 / OBRA # 43
“LIFE HAS UNEVEN GROUND – LA VIDA TIENE
ALTIBAJOS”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
2 ¼” x 3” – 6 cm x 7.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
In life there is always going to exist good and
bad situations but life still goes on. These difficulties
are represented in this ceramic by a zigzag profile.
En la vida siempre se van a encontrar
situaciones buenas y malas y sin embargo, siempre
sigue su continuidad. Dichas situaciones están
representadas en esta cerámica por el perfil
zigzagueante que tiene.
66. ART WORK # 44 / OBRA # 44
“THE HEART’S CHALICE – EL CÁLIZ DEL CORAZÓN”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
2 ½” x 2½”– 6.5 cm x 6.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
The heart’s content has been highly valued from
ancient civilizations to the present. This value
considers the heart to be generator of life and
emotions, feelings and values.
El contenido del corazón, es altamente valorado
desde las antiguas civilizaciones, hasta la actualidad,
como generador de vida y como generador de
emociones, sentimientos y valores.
67. ART WORK # 45 / OBRA # 45
“HEAVEN’S LIGHTNING – RAYITO DE CIELO”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
2 ½” x 2½”– 6.5 cm x 6.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
When hope is lost, there is always a heaven’s
lightning around that illuminates the road with renewed
energy.
Cuando se pierde la esperanza, siempre se
encuentra de vuelta en un rayito de cielo que ilumina
con energía nueva nuestro camino.
68. ART WORK # 46 / OBRA # 46
“FERTILE FLOWER – FLOR FECUNDA”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
2 ½” x 3” – 6.5 cm x 7.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
There is always uncertainty when expecting the
fruit of a fertile flower. The brown color in this ceramic,
represents the earth, from where all the plants and life
began.
Siempre existe la incertidumbre del fruto, cuando
una flor se encuentra fecundada. El color café de esta
cerámica representa a su vez, la tierra de donde toda
planta, y por lo tanto todo ser vivo, toma los elementos
escenciales.
69. ART WORK # 47 / OBRA # 47
“ATOLITO”
Raku ceramic – Cerámica de Raku
1 ¾” x 2 ¾” – 6.5 cm x 7.5 cm
Kingsville, TX, 2001
A cup of white “atolito”, a typical Mexican
beverage, is a tradition that is enjoyed by families on
cold days or festivities. Grandmothers are experts in
making this delicious beverage.
La taza de atolito blanco, bebida típica
mexicana, es una tradición que se disfruta en familia
cuando hay días fríos o alguna celebración. Las
abuelas son expertas haciendo tan deliciosa bebida.